Need for Speed

In today’s world, time is money. And the ability to go fast has applications in both civilian life and in the battlespace.

Imagine being able to travel from New York City to Los Angles in two hours. This reality may be closer than you think. Today, one of the reasons we can’t commercially fly supersonically is because of the environmental impacts that come with flying at high speeds. To achieve reductions in supersonic transportation airport noise, a totally new kind of propulsion system must be developed along with new techniques for low noise jet exhaust, integrated fan noise suppression, airframe noise suppression and computer customized airport noise abatement. We’re working with NASA to mitigate the impacts of the sonic boom and to develop solutions that will dramatically change commercial travel as we know it.

Now imagine being able to fly from New York City to just about anywhere in the world in less than an hour. This capability won’t be coming to an airport near you but the development of a hypersonic aircraft would forever change our government’s ability to respond to conflict. When most people think about hypersonic aircraft, many believe they would have to be large, expensive and exotic. It’s time we change that perception. Our work is shaping a technology maturation path to build more advanced hypersonic vehicles that could be deployed in 2030 and beyond.